Appeals of Oklahoma inmate in Arkansas slayings rejected LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of an Oklahoma man convicted in 2005 of killing two women at a De Queen cemetery monument company. The court on Thursday rejected the appeals of Mickey Dale Thomas in the 2004 deaths of 46-year-old Mona Lee Shelton and 45-year-old Donna Marie Cary. Thomas had argued that his trial attorney should have called a police officer to testify that there was no indication of sexual ...

Woman slips out of handcuffs, escapes bailiffs HOT SPRINGS (AP) — Garland County authorities are searching for a woman who escaped from custody after slipping out of handcuffs following a court hearing. The sheriff's department said Wednesday that 25-year-old Mandy Rose Cavanaugh escaped the handcuffs and ran from bailiffs after a Monday afternoon court hearing - then jumped into the bed of a pickup truck that authorities believe was being driven by her husband - 32-year-old Sean Michael D...

Oklahoma man jailed in Arkansas deputy's death TEXARKANA (AP) — Authorities say an Oklahoma man has been jailed on a second-degree murder charge in the traffic death of a southwest Arkansas sheriff's deputy. Lafayette County Chief Deputy Pete Richardson was killed Monday in a three-vehicle crash near Lewisville. According to the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office, Richardson was driving Michael Lee Ackart of Tulsa, Okla., to a homeless shelter in Miller County. Authorities said investigator...

Environmental agency fires inspector MOUNTAIN HOME (AP) — An Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality inspector said he'll appeal his firing over revelations that he frequently hunted on a 700-acre landfill tract in north Baxter County. Gary Meador had inspected the NABORS landfill for 25 years along with facilities in 13 other Arkansas counties. He came under scrutiny after The Baxter Bulletin reported that Meador's recreational vehicle was found at the landfill last month. ...

US judge denies new hearing in Mueller slayings LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a request for a new hearing for an Oklahoma man on federal death row for the slayings of an Arkansas family. U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ruled Tuesday that Danny Lee of Yukon, Okla., needed to obtain authorization from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to file another petition challenging his death sentence. Lee was convicted in federal court in the 1996 slayings of gun dealer William Mue...

Bond hearings (March 18, 2014)
The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Monday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear April 14 in Circuit Court. • Leslie D. Messec, 32, theft of public benefits — $1,000 cash only. Charges were filed against Messec on March 5 following an investigation by an Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) fraud investigator. According...

After 37 years on lam, killer caught in FloridaDEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In the nearly 40 years after he escaped from the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, convicted killer James Robert Jones carved out a new life for himself in Florida, living under an assumed name, getting married and working for an air conditioning company. It all came to an end this week when Jones — or Bruce Walter Keith, as the former Army private was known in Florida — was recaptured with the ...

Bond hearings (March 15, 2014)The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Friday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear April 14 in Circuit Court. • Rocky S. Maggard, 23, theft of property and criminal mischief — $25,000. A Pope County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) investigator reported the department had been investigating several reports of churches' air conditioning u...

1 arrested in home invasionA 20-year-old man was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bond Friday on suspicion of alleged involvement in a February home invasion incident. Jaylen G. Ester appeared before District Judge Don Bourne during felony bond hearings on prospective charges of aggravated residential burglary and theft of property after turning himself in to authorities. Attorneys Bob Veach and Alex Streett were present with Ester during the proceedings. A Russellville ...

Police: 1 man, 1 woman died at South by Southwest AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A suspected drunken driver barreled through police barricades and drove down a crowded street at the South by Southwest festival early Thursday morning, killing two people and injuring 23 in an act authorities say was intentional. Austin police released the name of the man in a statement Thursday afternoon. They intend to charge Rashad Charjuan Owens with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault. Th...

Clown gets 7 years in prison for child pornography FORT SMITH (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a performer who worked with children under the name "Sondance the Clown" to more than seven years in prison for receiving child pornography. U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III included 10 years of supervised release to follow Thomas Harold Morgan's prison term of seven years and three months. Court records show investigators learned that a computer owned by Morgan was being used to downl...

Cops: 2 OD on heroin as kids play at McDonald's CINCINNATI (AP) — An Indiana couple overdosed on heroin in a McDonald's play area, Ohio police said, and now face child endangering charges. The fire department in Green Township, just west of Cincinnati, responded to a call Sunday about two unresponsive adults in the fast-food restaurant's indoor play area. Authorities said one was unconscious and not breathing; the other was conscious but unresponsive. They recovered after emergency treatmen...

UCA ex-administrator gets 3-year prison sentence CLINTON (AP) — A former University of Central Arkansas administrator will remain free on bond while he appeals his conviction on charges alleging he gave a student master keys so that the student could steal tests from professors' offices. A Van Buren County jury on Wednesday convicted former UCA chief of staff Jack Gillean on six counts of commercial burglary and sentenced him to three years in prison, 10 years of probation and a $35,000 fine...

Death row inmate seeks relief in De Queen slayings LITTLE ROCK (AP) — An Oklahoma man convicted in 2005 and sentenced to die for killing two women at a De Queen cemetery monument company asked the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday to open the way for a new trial. Lawyers for Mickey David Thomas, 39, told justices that Thomas' trial attorney should have raised two issues and said he should get a new proceeding. At trial, Thomas' lawyers failed to object to the trial being moved to Pike County....

Woman found shot to death in Hot Springs home HOT SPRINGS (AP) — Police in Hot Springs say a woman has been found shot to death inside a home on the city's south side. Cpl. McCrary Means said officers responding to reports of a shooting about 2:20 a.m. Thursday found the woman dead inside the home. The woman's name has not been released and her body was sent to the State Crime Lab for an autopsy. No arrests have been made in the case.

Former state trooper pleads guilty to felony ASH FLAT (AP) — A former Arkansas State Police trooper has pleaded guilty to a felony breaking or entering charge. Seth Higginbottom, 38, of Cave City was sentenced to 24 months of supervised probation after entering the plea Wednesday in Sharp County Circuit Court. An affidavit filed in the case says Higginbottom admitted taking prescription medication from a drug take-back box at the Sharp County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 6 to replace drug ev...

Bond hearings (March 13, 2014)The following individuals appeared in felony bond hearings Wednesday at the Pope County Detention Center. Their names, ages, anticipated charges and bond amounts are listed. If charged, they will appear April 14 in Circuit Court. • Connie E. Warrick, 50, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) and theft by receiving — $10,0...

Utah trucker accused of keeping sex slaves A Utah truck driver kept sex slaves in his semitrailer for months at a time while he traveled the country, filing down their teeth, forcing them to alter their appearance and beating them until they nearly passed out, authorities said. Timothy Jay Vafeades, 54, made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo, N.D., and will now be transferred to Utah for further proceedings. The charges against him include kidnapping, tran...

La. mom charged with death of Down syndrome son BELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana woman has been arrested on a charge of first-degree murder after police say she injected alcohol-based hand sanitizer into the feeding tube of her 17-month-old son, who had Down syndrome. Twenty-year-old Erika Wigstrom was being held without bond after her arrest Tuesday. Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Commander Eric Becnel says she told police she wanted to end Lucas Ruiz's suffering. NOLA.com The Times-Pica...

US seeks 10-year term for TV pitchman Trudeau CHICAGO (AP) — Prosecutors seeking 10 years in prison for TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau for bilking consumers via widely broadcast infomercials say he's an "uncontrollable huckster." Defense attorneys say the government goes too far in its portrayal of Trudeau, and he should get less than two years behind bars for a November criminal contempt conviction. In their scathing, 41-page filing in U.S. District Court in Chicago this week, federal prosecu...